3-Day pictures
Last weekend I walked for the second time in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a sixty mile walk over the course of three days to help show support for breast cancer. As always, it was an amazing experience and I hope to walk one more time in 2008. Under the cut are some pictures I took while walking, but they don't come close to accurately depicting the feeling you get while walking with 4500 other women and men for three days.
Several pics, and pretty big ones.
This is at ass-o'clock in the morning on Day One. Considering there were 4500 walkers, we were pretty close to the front for opening ceremonies. It still took us about twenty minutes to make it to the front and then back down that center aisle to start walking.
A circle of breast cancer survivors starts opening ceremonies by walking down the center aisle to the stage with their hands joined. Everything is very quiet. You can see the woman in the pink hat has no hair and is currently going through chemotherapy. She walked all 60 miles.
When the survivors reach the stage, they stand with their hands raised as a symbol of their strength and beauty.
This was the view for most of Day One. See why San Diego is the most popular walk? People flew in from all over the US to walk this 3-Day, as opposed to, say, Dallas in June. :|
I stopped at the place where I took the last picture and turned around to try and get the walkers coming down the hill behind me. This picture doesn't begin to do justice to how many people there actually were.
Just a couple of the many, many, MANY community members that came out on their own time to say thank you to us for walking. We passed office buildings that had their entire staff standing outside in business suits, clapping for us as we walked past. It was really touching.
Smile Guy and Little Grin (whom you can't see at the moment) have been a fixture of the 3-Day for years. The year his daughter was born, his wife walked the 3-Day and he brought the baby out to her so she could nurse it. This guy and the little girl have been supporters of the 3-Day ever since. He gives out little smiley face buttons and his little girl passes out stickers. SO CUTE.
Here's another place where I stopped and turned around to try and capture the feeling of how many people were actually walking.
In camp. Yes, I slept in a tent. On top of the ridge you can see walkers who got an early start and were far more industrious than I was in getting up and out on the route.
The San Jose bike police drove down from northern California to help with route safety. On Day Three they all wore pink shirts. :x Yes, I did take a picture of this one's ass. You can see my shadow on the ground and the points of the VERY AWESOME PINK FUZZY PRINCESS CROWN I was wearing. :D
Many people wore adorable, cute, creative things as they walked. This was a whole team of butterfly girls that made me think of my SLJGF, so I asked them if I could take their picture. They were happy to oblige.
Day Three ended at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. This was the holding area where we got our victory shirts and waited for all of the other walkers to finish the route for the day. This was a short day-- only 15 miles.
Closing ceremonies on Day Three ends with the Survivors' March. After all of the walkers have entered the closing ceremony site, the survivors walk in after us in their pink victory shirts. It's hard to tell from the picture, but everyone watching takes off one shoe and holds it up in honor of all the survivors. This was the first time I've ever seen men in the Survivors' March-- there were two of them. :( Women aren't the only ones who can get breast cancer.
The 3-Day is truly an incredible event. I encourage anyone in the US to find out where your nearest 3-Day is being held and to go and participate. Or at least go to cheer the walkers on-- it helps them make it all the way to 60 miles.
Several pics, and pretty big ones.
This is at ass-o'clock in the morning on Day One. Considering there were 4500 walkers, we were pretty close to the front for opening ceremonies. It still took us about twenty minutes to make it to the front and then back down that center aisle to start walking.
A circle of breast cancer survivors starts opening ceremonies by walking down the center aisle to the stage with their hands joined. Everything is very quiet. You can see the woman in the pink hat has no hair and is currently going through chemotherapy. She walked all 60 miles.
When the survivors reach the stage, they stand with their hands raised as a symbol of their strength and beauty.
This was the view for most of Day One. See why San Diego is the most popular walk? People flew in from all over the US to walk this 3-Day, as opposed to, say, Dallas in June. :|
I stopped at the place where I took the last picture and turned around to try and get the walkers coming down the hill behind me. This picture doesn't begin to do justice to how many people there actually were.
Just a couple of the many, many, MANY community members that came out on their own time to say thank you to us for walking. We passed office buildings that had their entire staff standing outside in business suits, clapping for us as we walked past. It was really touching.
Smile Guy and Little Grin (whom you can't see at the moment) have been a fixture of the 3-Day for years. The year his daughter was born, his wife walked the 3-Day and he brought the baby out to her so she could nurse it. This guy and the little girl have been supporters of the 3-Day ever since. He gives out little smiley face buttons and his little girl passes out stickers. SO CUTE.
Here's another place where I stopped and turned around to try and capture the feeling of how many people were actually walking.
In camp. Yes, I slept in a tent. On top of the ridge you can see walkers who got an early start and were far more industrious than I was in getting up and out on the route.
The San Jose bike police drove down from northern California to help with route safety. On Day Three they all wore pink shirts. :x Yes, I did take a picture of this one's ass. You can see my shadow on the ground and the points of the VERY AWESOME PINK FUZZY PRINCESS CROWN I was wearing. :D
Many people wore adorable, cute, creative things as they walked. This was a whole team of butterfly girls that made me think of my SLJGF, so I asked them if I could take their picture. They were happy to oblige.
Day Three ended at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. This was the holding area where we got our victory shirts and waited for all of the other walkers to finish the route for the day. This was a short day-- only 15 miles.
Closing ceremonies on Day Three ends with the Survivors' March. After all of the walkers have entered the closing ceremony site, the survivors walk in after us in their pink victory shirts. It's hard to tell from the picture, but everyone watching takes off one shoe and holds it up in honor of all the survivors. This was the first time I've ever seen men in the Survivors' March-- there were two of them. :( Women aren't the only ones who can get breast cancer.
The 3-Day is truly an incredible event. I encourage anyone in the US to find out where your nearest 3-Day is being held and to go and participate. Or at least go to cheer the walkers on-- it helps them make it all the way to 60 miles.